John Carroll's NFL connections: Work, school are common bonds

Josh McDaniels, who had been a personnel assistant for the New England Patriots for all of two months, was asked if he knew anyone else who might be interested in an entry level position.

Nick Caserio -- who had beaten out McDaniels to start at quarterback at John Carroll when both were freshmen in 1995 -- was McDaniels' first choice.

Caserio, a University graduate, interviewed with Scott Pioli, now running the Kansas City Chiefs' front office, and he was hired a month later.

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Together, the good friends and former college teammates worked their way up the ranks for a franchise that would win three Super Bowls in a four-year span.

"He's the reason I ended up in New England," said Caserio of McDaniels. "I will forever be grateful to him for that."

With Pioli in Kansas City, Caserio, New England's director of player personnel, is the de facto No. 2 below Bill Belichick in the Patriots' hierarchy.

McDaniels, who was the Patriots' offensive coordinator from 2006-08, was hired as the Broncos' head coach in January 2009 -- three months before his 33rd birthday.

Thursday, the NFL draft makes a move to prime time.

When the first three rounds are held Thursday and Friday, only five teams have as many as three picks among the top 53 overall.

One -- New England -- has a league-high four selections in the first two rounds.

The Broncos have three.

Caserio and McDaniels -- two highly competitive former quarterbacks who spent as much time studying film as some of their coaches -- will play major roles in shaping their teams' future.

One is the son of a legendary Ohio high school coach who got his start because of his father's connection to Nick Saban, then at Michigan State.

The other made the most of what started as an inquisitive call from a friend.

Both are among an impressive list of NFL personnel produced by a Jesuit institution in University Heights with an enrollment of fewer than 4,000.

Friendship begins at QB

John Carroll lost its starting quarterback to a broken leg in its season opener in 1995.

Then-coach Tony DeCarlo handed the position over to Caserio, a redshirt freshman who had the advantage of playing at US under Joe Perella, who left the Preppers to be the Blue Streaks' offensive coordinator after Caserio's high school career ended.

Caserio never let go.

He started all four years, throwing for 8,434 yards and finishing his career with 16 school records.

"Nick was always an outstanding student," said DeCarlo, who has been affiliated with JCU since 1964 and is now the school's director of athletic development. "He just worked endless hours in terms of studying film and knowing what he had to do in terms of preparation for that next game. He was a great leader. Everyone had confidence in him."

Caserio's success meant McDaniels -- a productive quarterback under his father, Thom, at Canton McKinley -- didn't have a position.

After taking his sophomore football season off to help his dad at McKinley, McDaniels made the switch to receiver in 1997.

He would go on to catch 41 passes and score seven touchdowns the next two years.

"We're both pretty competitive individuals," Caserio said of the original battle for the starting QB job in 1995. "It's tough when you establish a relationship with someone, but it's the nature of the position. In any line of work, you're going to have people you compete against. It didn't fragment our relationship all that much. We were working for the same goal.

"Josh handled it well and he was supportive of me. It was nice to have him as a sounding board. Then Josh selflessly made the decision to move to wide receiver. It says a lot about him. I have a ton of respect for him as a person, and he's one of my best friends to this day."

View from the top

Today, they are NFL rivals.

Two quarterbacks who started at the bottom and worked their way up the Patriots' chain of command.

DeCarlo and Case Western Reserve head coach Greg Debeljak, who was John Carroll's quarterbacks and wide receivers coach during the tenure of Caserio and McDaniels, would expect nothing less.

"Josh was really smart," said Debeljak, a Mentor grad. "He wouldn't blow anyone away with his speed or his physical size. But in meetings, it was apparent how much football he knew -- probably even more than some of the coaches. But it didn't come off like that. He wasn't going to second-guess or chastise coaches and tell them that he knew more than them.

"Nick, you knew he would be tremendously successful no matter what he chose to do. If he wanted to be a lawyer, he would have been a great lawyer. He outworked people. He was incredibly competitive, not only on the football field, but in the classroom. You worried about him, to tell you the truth, because he put in so much time and effort."

Caserio, who briefly considered a career in finance after graduation, has been a personnel assistant, a coaching assistant, an area scout, the director of pro personnel, the wide receivers coach and now the director of player personnel with the Pats.

Working his way up is an understatement.

"A lot of it is being in the right place at the right time," he said. "In the end, a lot of us started on the lowest level. Your job is based on the job that you do. We've been fortunate, but a lot of it is attributed to the individual and their work ethic and their football sense. At John Carroll, you're talking about good people, and you're always trying to find good people and hire good people, no matter what line of work you're in."

NFL connections

Often -- at least more so than most Division III schools -- when referring to former Blue Streaks, the chosen profession is NFL coach, player or front office executive.

There are six prominent current league members who hail from John Carroll, including Caserio, McDaniels and former teammate London Fletcher, a Villa Angela-St. Joseph graduate who made the Pro Bowl last season with the Redskins.

The list also includes Colts vice president and general manager Chris Polian (John Carroll Class of 1993), Colts director of player personnel Tom Telesco (1995) and Falcons director of college scouting Dave Caldwell (1996).

According to DeCarlo -- who was John Carroll's athletic director from 1986 to 2003, its wrestling coach for 23 seasons and its football coach for 12 -- the Blue Streaks have had 18 alums who have played, coached or worked in NFL front offices.

The list (see corresponding chart) includes Hall of Famer Don Shula, like DeCarlo a Harvey grad, and extends to three college teammates in the late 1990s -- two of whom worked their way from the bottom of the Patriots' dynasty.

Said DeCarlo, who spends his winters in Florida: "I always tell people, we have people from all over the country in this development I'm in, I kid them about Miami of Ohio used to be the cradle of coaches. But now we're the cradle of coaches. It's amazing the number we've got for a school our size."

One is a head coach who has caused quite a stir in Denver by engineering the trades of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall in his first 15 months on the job.

Another is his good friend, a former quarterback who will always be grateful to the man who helped him get his start in the NFL.

"Sometimes, you get caught up in where do I want to be in 'X' amount of years? But I was just as happy to get involved in football," said Caserio, whose father, Nick, lives in Moreland Hills. "I knew it would be a lot of work, but I've been fortunate to work with some great people."

That seems to be a common theme for those who used to wear the blue and gold.